The Yamato has always been seen as a learning ethnic group. It has been greedly asorbing the civilization from other nations by learning their culture, character, tradition, art, architecture and even religion. A great deal of Japanese culture and religion had been adapted from the older civilization, China. To them, China used to be their great teacher. In the past thousands of years, the Japanese were so eagerly to see and to learn from this teacher, ingnoring the long, dangerous journey and the deep Japanese Sea. However, since the latest century, the teacher has been invaded by his student, surpassed his student. And now, to be frank, the teacher is not competent enough to be in this position any longer. In many aspects, such as science and economy, the teacher has fallen behind his student. Maybe it's time for the teacher to examine himself profoundly. Americans believe no one stands still; if you are not moving ahead, you are falling behind. The teacher must has already been familiar with this credo. Maybe it's time for the teacher to learn something from the Student.
Let's see how does the Japanese behavior in some aspects.The Japanese view boon a burden. They do like to easily accept others' help, even is from a close relatives. This might seems quite weird to us. In our opinion, lending a hand to a friend, a relative or a stranger is a gracious act. We should be happy with it. Because when we are short of money, someone would lend us some to make the ends meet; when we are having a birthday or a ceremony, someone would come with fabulous presents; when we fall over and got injured on the leg, someone would come and support us with a hand. All above are those which we consider as beautiful acts. And thanks to them our soiciety would become more harmonious and peaceful. However, that does not mean that the Japanese people do not like benevolence. In fact, they appreciate it too. The difference between us lies on which part of this deed we separately focus on. In our sense of worth, we focus on this innitiative act and consider it as a way to break the cat ice between everyone. The Japanese people has a sense of worth which is quite a difference from ours. Actually, hardly on earth could we find another sense of worth which is familiar to the Japanese. They put most of their attention of "Paying a Debt of Gratitude", which means when they accept someone else's grace, they should start to think about what they can pay back. It is similar to a Chinese saying " remember the gratitude and try to repay it". However, you can also find a more appropriate saying "Drips of grace, Yongquan". That could most accurately descibe the Japanese way. In their eyes, the gratitude is the most unbearable thing. Once accepted, they should try to repay it heart and soul. And they call it " ties of friendship".
Far across the sea, on that long, narrow island, the people have incorporated " ties of friendship" into every aspect of their lives. And as early as in one's youth, his parents would start to teach him the importance of " ties of friendship", whose objects are not only the people who show the gratitude, but also relatives, friends, strangers and most important of all, their mikado. It seems to the Japanese that they are born with the gratitude of the mikado and they could never pay back the endless grace. Thus every singal Japanese could sacrifice himself or herself when necessary, and they consider it a honor which is above everything else.
Look at ourselves, as the economic is developing faster than our mental power, we are losing ourselves in the mist. Maybe the Japanese sense of worth could remind us the traditional Chinese virtue. Unlike the Japanese, we are born with the gratitude of our motherland. With her latex, we grow up upbring sturdily. But in the mist of money and power, we almost forget to pay back her gracefully bestow. Although it is not the emergent moment that we have to sacrifice ourselves, if needed, I believe most of us will do so, we should get ready for the challenges in this changing world. Keep in mind that we bear the grace of our motherland and never forget our duties, that is pushing our country toward prosperity.
Another thing I'd like to mention is the self-discipline of the Japanese. In their world, the entertainment and work is apparently seperated. While working, they try their best and leaving everything else behind. But that does not mean they do not like entertainments. Oppositely, they view entertaiment a necessary part of life. And in Japan, sex is not such shameful topic as it is in China. The Japanese people, even the women after giving birth to their child, would talk it publicly while they are gathering together with their friends and view it as palate. And they'd like to develop their hobbies. For example, most of the Japanese like to sleep and they do not consider sleeping a way to rest. In fact, they make it their hobby and try to develop it. That's why the Japanese people could sleep at anytime and anywhere in any posture right away.
However, while compared with their work or duty, entertainment could be a quite trivial thing. One example is that, the Japanese soldiers could keep awake for 60 hours with only 10 minutes' break in their training. And the drill master said " They already know how to sleep, it's time to learn how to get rid of sleep." In their opinion, entertainment could be droped easily if necessary.
We always have this kind of feeling, when we are having some kind of enjoyment, we are worrying about some work undone. And when we are doing our work, we are thinking about play and rest momently. I think that's why some of us find our efficiency so poor, and that's also why success is always so far away. There is no harm in separating work and play totally. And furthermore, maybe play actually is not so important, we should choose the most vauluable thing to do in our limited lifetime.
Hermann Hesse, a famous German writer, said in his book Siddhartha" We should do things in the way a stone falls into the water." Straightly, without any interuption, I think that's the short cut to success.